Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 - (Page 13)

in March, a survey of 1,800 San Mateo County residents showed that slightly more than one-third agreed that the area needs more housing, while the remaining two-thirds said building more homes didn’t seem necessary. By the end of the weekend’s educational discussions, however, those numbers had flipped. Once educated and engaged in the issue, more than two-thirds of the participants said the county needs more housing, while fewer than one-third continued to believe it does not. What’s more, of the 240 participants in the discussions, 215 submitted cards asking about volunteer opportunities in the community. Although statistics aren’t yet available about how many followed through, at least 30 of the participants have registered to take part in housing planning committees within their home cities. “What we get from this process is more common ground to work with for the long term,” Greenway says. “Understanding and coming to respect our differences allows us to work better together.” A PACT to Help Understanding commonalities and respecting differences also has been a key take-away for Adrián Cerda, 45, an electronics engineer from San José who joined People Acting in Community Together, or PACT, to help bring medical care coverage to uninsured adults. PACT, part of the PICO National Network (short for People Improving Communities Through Organizing), receives grants from the community foundation. Learning to understand others’ points of view, Cerda says, has made him not only a better citizen, but a better employee, too. “I can understand better what another group or another person is thinking about and why they might be making a request or a change,” he says. PACT’s nonpartisan activism appealed to Cerda most. “It has given me a much more concrete sense of what I can do to make the world better,” he says. His civic engagement through PACT, he says, also has taught him that a good leader doesn’t try to do everything himself. “The ability to let other people in the community step up to the plate and take responsibility is key,” he says. “In the long run, it’s more important to create more people who can be advocates.” Rabbi Jay Miller, founder of the Peninsula Clergy Network, calls the effort to bring in more advocates “increasing the social capital.” The network of 400 clergy and congregations throughout San Mateo County and northern Santa Clara County exists for that very reason. Following Hurricane Katrina, county officials asked Miller to connect his network with that of the Red Cross and the county Office of Emergency Services to create a plan for handling natural disasters more efficiently. “What we wanted to do is reduce the historic fragmentation and conflict in the faith community and replace it with good social capital,” he explains. Rather than harnessing the network for specific hands-on projects, Miller shapes it as a lightning rod capable of harnessing the energy of hundreds of communities into one cohesive network. In the wake of Katrina, the network’s initial efforts were dedicated to disaster preparedness. Now that the local congregations have been coordinated with regional relief resources, the network is moving into communication and support for local education, diversity training and leadership Anne HAmersky www.siliconvalleycf.org innovation through philanthropy o n e 13 http://www.siliconvalleycf.org

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Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 Contents From Emmett D. Carson The New Face of Need Five-star Philanthropy Ready to Learn Board School Civic Citizens Built to Last siliconvalleycf.org What If?

Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008

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